


And Then

by Measured



Category: Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-25 13:59:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18262736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Measured/pseuds/Measured
Summary: After the world was turned to stone, Soren takes a blow for Ike.





	And Then

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bulletprccf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bulletprccf/gifts).



> you know how in Awakening when you pair up and sometimes one of them will jump in front of the other and prevent the blow? Yeah. (Guess who randomly pulled out Awakening? Luigi's mansion Dark Moon was making me pull my hair out. Don't @ me, that gyroscope winter bridge personally hates me and I need a break.)
> 
> This is set late game FE10. Canon-typical violence.
> 
> Bullecctproof was in the discord and ze mentioned feeling groggy. Feel better!

"Ike, watch out!"

Every image flashed in his mind. The Swordmaster with a Swordslayer, still coated with blood. His ripped tunic, the unyielding look in his eyes. It couldn't be. Not Ike, _never Ike._

Ike had already taken a hard blow when their defense had been breathed. The onslaught had been relentless. Soren hadn't even time to heal him, not with how he had to watch Ike's flank.

All Soren's careful plans were cast aside. In a game of chess, Ike was the king. Ike was the sun in the sky, the only person in the world who had ever given him warmth.

Without even a single thought, Soren threw himself in front of the blade.

A cry. Pain without ending. The blade went completely through his chest. The pain was beyond what words could explain. Sudden, excruciating. He felt his body become cold and disconnected, drifting past the pain as he saw--heard--the cry, the Swordmaster cut down by Ike's blade. An instantaneous revenge, without mercy.  
Ike's arms had clutched tight to him. The sole point of warmth in this frigid world.

_Don't leave me, Soren. I can't do this without you._

The world grew dark at the edges. Blood dripped from his mouth. His lips were forced open, and something was pushed between his lips, the cool thick taste of a vulnerary, breath from Ike's lips in his lungs at that desperate touch.

And then there was a light, a warmth.

_I won't lose another person. I won't have it, Soren!_

And then, and then....

*

Soren's eyes suddenly fluttered opened. His head was still unsteady as the image of the people before him slowly came into place.

A lantern was in the corner of the tent. Too close to the burlap. The faint glow illuminated several dirt and bloodstreaked mercenaries.

Mist burst into a big smile. "He's back! Soren's okay!"

Her yellow dress had dulled, like a winter sun in the battle.

Rhys bowed his head. "Thank the Goddess for her Mercy."

Soren glanced groggily towards Rhys. His once white vestments were now a muddy brown from travel. "Perhaps you mean some other Goddess, because ours just turned almost the entire world to stone. I don't believe ours knows the meaning of the word."

"Well, his head's still sound," Titania said dryly.

Blood and dirt streaked her usually pristine armor. A smear of mud was across her pale cheeks, and her red braid was coming undone down her bang, and filled with tangles. Had she fallen from her horse at some point?

Ike's gaze was fixed and rigid upon him. There was more than words could say in his powerful blue eyes.

"I'd like a moment alone with him," Ike said.

"All right. I'll make you a soup to make you feel better, Soren," Mist said.

"Sheesh, Mist. He already almost died? Don't try and send him to the other side so soon," Boyd said.

Mist grimaced. "Ugh, Boyd, you're the worst."

One by one, they left the tent. Soren pushed himself up. The woolen blanket fell away. It had rust-like stains upon it. A memory burst forth in his mind, like something rising up from water.

Pain, a kiss near death, the taste of vulnerary on Ike's lips, and the light of a mend staff.  
So death's scythe had missed him another time. How many times had it been now? First he'd been starving, and a boy had given him his food. Then, that same boy--now a man--had reached out and accepted him.

"You could've been killed out there, Soren." Ike's voice was low, and full of emotion. "If I hadn't had that vulnerary, and Mist hadn't been near..."

The sentence hung in the air unfinished.

Soren kept his gaze on the lantern, which had begun to burn even lower. "He had a Swordslayer, and you were already injured. ...It was my only choice."

Soren let out a faint gasp as Ike suddenly embraced him. He clutched tight to the firm feeling of Ike's armor, his broad chest against him. Soren closed his eyes. Ike smelled of sweat and blood, surely no romance tale's flowery details of lilac and a scent uniquely him.

"Don't you _ever_ do something like that again. It was far from your only choice! I can take a hit. I would've been fine. This company can't win this war without you, _I_ can't win this war without you. I've already lost too many people along the way. I refuse to let you be one of them."

Soren rested against him, breathed him in. And then _Ike was alive, he lived. no matter what pain happened, you saved him._

He licked his dry, chapped lips. "Ike....a life without you is no life at all. If I die to save you, then so be it--"

Ike cut him off, and clutched tighter. "Not _so be it._ Damn it, Soren. You're invaluable to this army, but most of all, to me."

Ike let out a soft breath.

"Yes, I value you as a tactician very much. I couldn't have won this war without you. But It wouldn't matter if you had all the talent of a scullery maid to me. You're my best friend, and I can't imagine a world without you in it. So as your captain, I'm giving you a command: _never_ do something so reckless again."

"You said you loved me, and would do anything for me. You said you wanted nothing more than for me to be happy. _You_ make me happy. So live for me, Soren. And keep living."

Soren swallowed back the sudden rush of emotion. He had cried in Ike's arms before; today wouldn't be that.

"I...apologize. In that moment, all I could think was that I wanted you to live.".

"Did you ever think that I wanted you to live, too? That the loss of you would tear me apart, too?"

In Soren's life, there were many shocks. The moment Ike had given him that food, which had pulled him from the brink of death, when Ike had accepted him as a branded, and the moment they had first kissed.

And now, here was another one. No matter how many times Soren had to be told that he was valued by Ike, he had to keep learning that lesson over and over.

_Ike's happiness means everything to me. So for that, I must live...we both must live._

He couldn't say anything to fill the silence. As much as he craved the words, some voice inside him never fully accepted. The same dark voice which had taunted him and kept him quiet about his branded nature.

"I'll...be more careful," Soren said, his voice barely above a whisper. "After all, we have a war to win."

"I've had far enough of wars. When this is over, we're due for a long break. Somewhere where there's no wars. And you'll be with me. So live, already. And keep living."

Soren took in a deep breath. Ike wanted him. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with him. He silenced the dark voice of _he'll tire of you, he'll find some woman to love who will bear his children._

Nothing could take this moment from him. Not the memory pain that had faded into grogginess from the vulnerary and mend staff, not even the memories of the past, or his tainted blood.

Ike was his, now and forevermore.

"I will...for you, Ike... For you."


End file.
